Heroes from Panem
by NewlyBitten
Summary: What would it be like if the tributes were actually half-bloods? Sorry for the lame title.
1. Reapings

_Glimmer_

What I felt when my name was called was fear. Raw fear. Fear for my life, and fear for my family. I also felt distance. It's what I felt when I heard the silence after the required ask for volunteers. It's what I felt when I looked into the eyes of my best friends, staring right through me as if I didn't exist.

_Marvel_

After hearing my name called from the reaping ball, I walked proudly from the 17s to the tall wooden stage that held my opponent and fellow tribute. Tall and blonde, she was beautiful. Her name was Glimmer- I'd heard it around school enough times. She was popular with the girls-and the guys. She'd broken so many hearts, there were barely enough at our school unbroken. Hearts like mine. Mine wasn't broken by Glimmer, nor did I intend it to be. As I looked her in the eyes and smiled mischievously, she turned away, shaking her head. Feisty. I had no idea how I was going to be able to kill her.

_Clove_

I saw the escort's hand reaching into the reaping ball, and all I could think was _please be me. Please be me._ I had signed up for tesserae as many times as you could, and I even bribed the Peacekeeper to let me put my name in more, because I needed _something._ Something to take me away from the guilt of killing my father, the Head Peacekeeper- well, the _ex_ Head Peacekeeper- of District Two. Something to take me away from the nightmares. Something to take me away from the cruel words and harsh punishments I got daily from my abusive mother. Then the escort said the name on the slip of paper, loud and clear. "Clove Gauruh!" A sigh of relief seemed to ripple through the crowd. Clove, the vicious girl who had killed her father was going to be gone. Dead. I quickly glanced at my mother. My father had left plenty of money, and she liked to let people know that, so of course she was wearing her heavy white fur coat trimmed with black fur and flaunting it. She looked at me and smiled- only it wasn't a sad smile most mothers gave their children when they were reaped-it was more of a smirk that said, _You were bad. Now you're paying for it._

_Cato_

As I waited in the 18s with the other guys my age, I snuck a peek at my two older brothers standing with my parents, since they were no longer in the drawing for the Games. They smirked at me and stuck out their tongues, mocking me. I sighed in irritation and shifted my gaze away from them and towards the stage, where the girl tribute was being announced. It was our dead Peacekeeper's daughter- her cold, dark eyes sweeping over the audience in disgust. I really only noticed her eyes. They reflected her personality- icy and hard, not letting anyone in. She'll be a hard one to kill. I needed to go to the Games. To show my brothers that I was actually _worth_ something, not just another dumb mess of muscle from District Two. I briefly glanced at the other guys in my group, their eyes eating everything up, their bodies tensed to run to the stage to volunteer. I, however, stood calmly with my arms crossed tightly against my chest. I would eventually make my way up to the stage to volunteer-it was just best to let the others trip over each other and get trampled. The escort called the tribute's name-it was a shrimpy looking kid from the 12s. The kid glanced at us, as if expecting one of us to volunteer, which happened every year, pretty much no one under 16 ever went from Two. The escort started to repeat the name, but never finished it. All of the 18s except me and some other losers surged toward the stage. There were cries of "I volunteer as tribute!" but almost everyone was trampled to the ground. I strode forward, stepping over the bodies on the ground, making sure to step hard directly on their faces. The few stragglers that were still making their way up to the stage I punched out of the way, and, not until I was on the stage standing next to the escort, did I say, "I volunteer as tribute."

_Cosette (Foxface)_

The escort reached into the reaping ball and pulled out a slip of paper and said two words. The two words that changed my life.

"Cosette Crispin!"

The world went numb as I realized what the escort was saying. _Cosette Crispin, it's your turn to suffer. Cosette Crispin, it's your life that we're taking. Cosette Crispin, it's your time to die. _One of the other 15 girls nudged me forward. I stumbled; recalling the sight of my twelve-year-old brother Gavroche walking up these very steps not two years ago, stumbling with fear just as I was now, seeing my mother's eyes spilling over with tears onto her pale face, just as it was now. . . I clutched the frayed cloth friendship bracelet that Gavroche had given me and surged forward with renewed confidence.

_Rue_

_No, no, it can't be._ I thought as my trembling legs walked me up to the stage. I shuddered violently- like I usually do when I'm scared or nervous-and would have collapsed if someone in the audience hadn't rushed out to help me the rest of the way. I didn't know who it was, I just felt their tears (or were they mine?) fall onto my face. I didn't know until I was on the stage, watching him melt back into the crowd, and I felt of pang of sadness so sharp shoot through me. It was my father. He pushed his way up to the front of the crowd, the lines of pain and sadness in his face deepening when the wind whistled eerily around the silent crowd as our escort asked for volunteers.

_Thresh_

I saw the little girl crying on the stage and knew that I had to help her. A small boy was called, but I volunteered, sending him running into his mother's arms with joy. His mother let him go long enough to whisper "Thank you. . ."

_Peeta_

As my name was called I almost fell over from the shock. The baker's boy, going to the Games? It was never heard of! The children from the Seam were usually the first to go. But then I saw her, and I walked up to the stage. I saw her, and knew I had to make sure she won. I saw her, and the world stopped.

Katniss Everdeen.

**This will be the one story I have that will not be a one-shot. And I hope no one minds about the lack of Katniss's point of view, but I figured there would be no point in me writing it right here, since everyone already knows what she was thinking at this point. And I apologize for the lameness of Thresh, but I had no other ideas. Please please please review! :DDDDDDDDDDDD**


	2. Train Ride

**I hope no one minds-I've decided to take Peeta out of the picture completely. Nothing is really new with him-he just tells Katniss what he's thinking all the time, and I thought if I put him in here, I would just be rewriting some of the scenes in Hunger Games and such. But anyway! I'm sorry it doesn't seem very Percy Jackson-ish right now, but it will soon! Trust me! And please, please, PEEWEASE review! :D**

_Glimmer_

As they roughly shoved us into the train car after saying good-bye to our families, I caught the other District One tribute-Marvel-staring at me again. I looked away. Sure, he was attractive-_really_ attractive, but I didn't need to be getting attached to _anything_ at this point. An attendant showed me to my room, a luxurious suite that was only a little bigger than my room at home. I sighed. _Home._ My father. My house. My friends. I would miss them all.

_Marvel_

The Capitol officials that led me to my train car were the same ones who told me we had to stop and pick up the other districts' tributes. I think that's the biggest batch of bullshit I've ever heard. If the Capitol's so fancy, can't they afford to get eleven more trains? And if you're sending these kids to their deaths, shouldn't they at least get their own trains? Ah, the citizens of the Capitol are such airheads.

_Clove_

They kept asking if I wanted to say good-bye, and I kept saying no, no, no. There was no one I wanted to see. I trudged into my room and fell onto the bed, depressed. For what, I wasn't sure. Maybe because of the way my life had turned into, or maybe it was because I knew in my heart that even if I did want to see someone, there was no one who would want to see _me._

_Cato_

Of course, my brothers came in to see me after my parents hugged me and cried and said their goodbyes and all that crap. I mean, sure I love them, but come on, guys, I'm not six! I'm probably the oldest one in these Games, and there's pretty much a definite possibility that I'm coming back alive. And if I don't, well...I'll be damned.

_Cosette (Foxface)_

After the long, emotional good-byes with my family, I squeezed Gavroche's bracelet-which I was using for my token-and tentatively stepped up the three metal stairs that would lead me to the train car where I would call home for the next few weeks or so. When I got to my room I flung myself on the bed and cried. I cried for my mother, who was too sweet to have her child reaped for the Games-much less _two_-, I cried for my father, who I didn't remember, but I hoped that he would be watching me from his place in Heaven next to Gavroche. And then I cried for Gavroche, who, even though only a year younger than me, was still my baby brother; the boy who always got sick, the boy who made me friendship bracelets and homemade gifts for me on a daily basis, the boy who hugged me and kissed me even when I was cross and snapped at him, the boy who never _was_ cross, the boy who did his studies thoroughly and well, the boy who made sure everyone else had enough to eat before he took his share-the boy who cared _so much_ for other people-even if some others didn't do the same to him. MY heart broke when he was reaped, and it broke when no one volunteered for him, and it broke a third time when I realized I could do nothing more to help him.

_Rue_

Oh, I was so scared. So, so terrified. I had a thousand questions. No one was answering them. No one was helping me. I started to feel dizzy in my head and started to sway. The Capitol attendants that had brought me to my bedroom were pulling down the coverlets of my bed; their backs to me.

"Excuse me," I said quietly, clearing my throat. As usual, no one answered me. "Excuse me." I said louder, and this time the two ladies' heads turned to me. "I think I'm going to faint, could someone please help me?" The women were immediately at my side. The younger one gently held my arm and guided me towards my bed, while the older one smoothed back my hair and caressed my cheek, showing me the motherly gestures I had seen from my friends' mothers, and had seldom felt from my own. I collapsed onto the bed, and immediately noticed how soft and plush the blankets were. I counted them-there were two lavender purple silk sheets, three comforters, and about twenty large pillows on the whole bed. I sank deeper into the mattress, only to sit up again a second later, immediately feeling guilty for indulging in these riches while my family at home barely had enough to spare. But then I thought of my father, all the tears shed at our good-byes, and knew that he would want me to enjoy them. I pulled the blankets around me and looked at the large empty space next to me on the bed and thought of my bed at home, one of the only comforts I could afford to enjoy in District Eleven. One mattress was all we had; held up by a few boards my father had managed to get his hands on. I would lay by the wall, my father on the other end, all of the littler children between us to keep them warm. My father would lay the few threadbare blankets we had across our legs, and then he would get out the huge wool afghan that my mother and grandmother had made together across us all. It was so large and thick that it kept the heat in perfectly. It was the only possession I had of my mother's, whom I had only met a small number of times. I know it seems strange, having a big family and only meeting our mother a few times, but from what I can remember, she was a beautiful woman with dark brown hair and smooth dark skin like mine, with sparkling dark brown eyes and always a smile on her face. I was very little when she visited, so my only memories of her were when she was pregnant with my littlest sister, three year old Ani. My father never told us where she went; just that she lived on the other side of District Eleven so she couldn't visit very often. I thought it was a bit strange, not living with your family, but I decided not to pester my father too much about it because he seemed to get rather sad when we spoke of her. My mother wasn't living with us for her whole pregnancy; only a couple of months, and Ani was born with my mother on the other side of District Eleven. A week after her birth, my mother brought her home, in a little straw baby basket inlaid with soft yellow, green, pink and orange fabric with the word _Harvest_ sewn onto the front, which is where Ani's name came from. I hoped my mother will see me during the Games, and maybe she will even sponsor me. I hope she will be proud of me.

_Thresh_

There was a blizzard in front of me. A blizzard of people, and they were all wearing white clothes. I knocked them out of my way as I stomped forward. Instead of following the map to my room one of the Capitol people gave me, I turned in the totally opposite direction, crumpling up the map and tossing it in a wastepaper bin. I could hear every single step I made with my hard, heavy boots, and from the glares I was getting from some of the people in this train car, I knew they could hear them, too.

With every step I took towards the crowd, that was one more they took away from me. They scattered by the dozen, in every direction, trying to get away from big scary Thresh Koring. They knew I could kill them. Kill them all with one snap of my wrist.


	3. Explanations

**Hey everybody! I'm so sorry I haven't written in such a while! My computer's been broken! But now it's fixed. And I just wanted to clear something up! I know this chapter will be a little confusing, with all of the explanations and everything, but let me just say that, obviously, happens after the Percy Jackson books, which would be after the big war, so I'm having the Big Three be able to have kids again. Please review!**

_Glimmer_

I passed a lot of people on the way to dinner. Let me rephrase that. I passed a lot of _kids _on the way to dinner. They ranged in age, from about twelve to eighteen-which were the general ages of the Hunger Games tributes, and surely the other districts had their own trains. Right? That would be the obvious thing. Another weird thing was that every adult I passed said something to me, and everything was some kind of variation of, "Oh, you're Aphrodite's, for sure." What? Who hell is Aphrodite, and what has she got to do with anything? Is she like a special trainer or something? When I got to the dining car, I was surprised to see about thirty people sitting along one long table, most of them being the kids I saw earlier. Are these the other tributes? As I sat down in one of the only remaining seats, the woman at the head of the table looked at me and said to someone, "Oh, yes, you're right, she's definitely Aphrodite's." What is going on?

_Marvel_

Finally, the last tribute arrived and some people started serving dinner. "These are Avoxes," the head at the table explained. "For a punishment, their tongues have been cut out, so they cannot speak." HA! This is great. You can bully someone, and they can't even rat you out! I knocked the tray of food out of the Avox standing next to me, spilling its contents all over his shirt. "Whoops, sorry," I smirked.

_Clove_

While the Avoxes were passing out food, the head at the table spoke again and introduced herself. "Hello," she said. "My name is Leeva, and I am your escort. I know you must all be very confused, so I will explain. First of all, you will not be participating in the Hunger Games." This one sentence caused pandemonium.

"What?" I cried, quickly rising from my chair. I wasn't the only one who did this. Tributes all over the room were standing up and yelling at Leeva, their anger apparent on their faces. Others, however, like the little girl from Eleven, looked like they were going to faint in relief. I was furious. I had waited my whole life for this! Who did these people think they were, taking away my only opportunity to get rid of my life?

"Because they don't exist," Leeva plainly stated. This sentence caused even _more _pandemonium.

"_WHAT?"_

"That's bullshit!"

"My _brother _died in one of them!"

"SILENCE!" yelled Leeva. "If you aren't going to be quiet, you will be turned into temporary Avoxes!" She pointed to an Avox in the corner of the room, who held up a roll of packing tape.

"Who do you think you are that you can take away the Games?" Cato, the other guy from District Two, shouted, apparently not believing Leeva about the tape.

An Avox marched over to Cato and slapped a piece of tape over his mouth and tied his wrists behind his back so he couldn't rip it off.

_Cato_

That _bitch! _I screamed in my head. How _dare _she shut me up? And more importantly, how the _hell _was I supposed to explain this to my brothers? They had expected me to win! Hell, _I _expected myself to win! I was finally going to prove myself to them! Suddenly, I caught the girl from District One looking at me. (Well, _everyone _was looking at me; she was just one of the more attractive ones.) I wiggled my eyebrows at her and tried to put on a sexy face. (Well, as sexy as I could manage with tape over my mouth.) She looked away quickly, a disgusted look on her face. I shrugged my shoulders and tried the same with the other girl from Two. (I didn't know her name, she wasn't from my village.) She gave me the finger. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Leeva, who was starting to explain why we were here.

Leeva took a deep breath. "You are all demigods," she started. "Half-human, half-god," she said to our confused expression. Well, that just confused us even more. Well, at least it confused _me _even more.

"There are many Olympian gods and goddesses," she said. She sighed again, seeing our blank faces. "The thirteen major ones are Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Hestia, and then the Big Three: the brothers, Zeus, the god of the sky; Poseidon, the god of the sea; and Hades, the god of the Underworld."

"More bullshit!"

"Gods don't exist, idiot!"

Two more mouths were taped.

I laughed in my head. What an idiot, Leeva is.

_Cosette (Foxface)_

Leeva continued as the boy from One and the girl from Two got their mouths taped shut. I didn't understand what Leeva was saying. How can gods exist? And if Leeva was telling the truth, why didn't any of them help us when we were hungry, or couldn't heat our homes? Where were they then? And then there was the situation with the Hunger Games not existing! Of _course _they existed! I saw Gavroche die with my own eyes!

I raised my hand. "Excuse me, but what does any of this have to do with the Hunger Games not being real?"

Leeva looked at me. "Oh, you look just like our little Gavroche. You're his sister, aren't you?"

I nodded slowly.

Leeva smiled. "Oh, he'll be very happy to see you,"

See me? Were they planning on killing us a different way, then? Because the only way I could see Gavroche was if…I died, too.

"Please let me finish and you will soon to understand…or, at least, start to. These gods like to, ah, _interact, _if you will, with humans. Their offspring, called demigods, have certain characteristics that separate them from humans. They're hyperactive, can't read well, and have a certain smell that draws monsters to them, and trust me, monsters are _not _good. They _will _try to kill you. Most humans are unaware of our existence; the only ones that know are the human parent of the demigod and a handful of others."

"I think you've made a mistake," said the boy from Twelve. "I live with both of my parents."

"Ah, some of you may, also," she said, addressing the rest of us. "However, either one of your parents is a step parent or you could be adopted. Or you could be this year's Victor."

"What do you mean, Victor? Like the Victor of the Games?" the boy from Ten asked.

"Yes! Precisely!" said Leeva. "Now, pay attention; this is where the Hunger Games come in. Every year, Camp Half-blood, which is a special camp for demigods in the Capitol, takes twenty-three demigods from the districts to Camp Half-blood, where they live until they turn twenty-one, which is when their powers are weaker and have less of a chance to be discovered by a monster and eaten. Obviously, we can't start taking kids all over Panem without some kind of explanation, so that's why the Hunger Games were created. Like I said, they don't really exist; we just film them, and everything's fake. It's _meant _to look real, of course, to fool the rest of the districts. Everyone that you've seen die in the Hunger Games is actually still alive today at Camp Half-Blood."

I almost burst with the excitement that filled me at the sound of that.

"Unless, of course, they were sent on a quest, and died then…but don't worry, that rarely ever happens!" Leeva said perkily.

"You said _twenty-three _tributes. There are always twenty-four of us," stated the girl from Four.

"The twenty-fourth tribute is our Victor; the one who goes back home and does not go to Camp Half-blood," replied Leeva.

"How do you pick the Victor?" I asked.

"Oh, _we _don't pick the Victor; they are simply the one tribute with no godly parent. However, to make sure they don't give us away, we erase the part of their memory of filming the Games, the explaining, of all this, and instead actually implant into their minds the memories of actually _participating _in the Games, so when they go home they actually believe that they've been in the Games." Explained Leeva, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But, but that's _horrible!" _I cried. "What if they can never recover from their memories of the Games? What if they…go crazy or something?"

Leeva shrugged. "It has happened, and that's just a risk we have to take."

_Thresh_

Somehow, everything that Leeva was saying made sense, in a way. It meant that I would be able to see my older sister again, who up until very recently, I thought had died five years ago in the sixty-ninth Hunger Games. She wouldn't be at the camp anymore, though, she was eighteen when she was reaped. I wonder what she was doing and where she was living now.

"What do we do after we leave camp?" I blurted out. "No one's ever come back to District Eleven."

"Well that's because, after camp, the demigods live in the Capitol, which is just a huge community of demigods. Of course they couldn't go back home to their districts! People would think the dead were walking the earth! It would just be absolute _mayhem! _Now what you choose to do, that is your choice. Now, my father, Hermes, is the god of traveling, so I decided to become an escort and travel across Panem, escorting other demigods to camp, where they can be safe."

"When do we get to meet our parent?" the girl from Five said.

Leeva hesitated. "Well-I don't know. After the Big War, which I will explain later, gods and goddesses were required to visit their children at least once. You may have already met your parent; you may have not. Some visit more than others." She looked at me. "Who do you live with?"

"My grandmother," I said stiffly.

"Is she your grandmother on your mother's or father's side?"

"My mother's."

"Oh, well then, you're parent would definitely be a god, because you wouldn't know your grandmother on your godly parent's side."

"Fascinating," I said, uninterested. Who did I care about knowing my godly parent? They didn't do anything for me or my grandmother until now. Not that this would be really helping _her, _she probably doesn't even know.

"Would my grandmother know?" I asked Leeva.

"Oh, yes! She knows and is being cared for. Since she is your only family, she will have the choice of moving to the Capitol when you are done with camp. No need to worry!"

"So…my father and brothers and sisters won't be able to come live with me?" the little girl from my own district asked, her lip trembling.

Leeva's face softened and she walked over to the girl and put her hand on her shoulder. "Oh, it's alright, Rue, you'll be okay! Eventually, the rest of your siblings will be reaped and sent to camp, and once the youngest one is at camp, your father will be able to move to the Capitol, too!"

_Glimmer_

All of this was slowly beginning to click into place in my brain. I was a demigod…part god! That was so fricken cool! So that's what everyone meant when they said I must be Aphrodite's…they meant Aphrodite was my mother! I wonder how they knew. Suddenly, while I was turning all of this over in my head, I felt my face tingling. I started to bring the tip of my finger up to stop it, when a voice popped into my head. _Don't, _it said, _you'll bring on pimples. _I sat, confused at this, and didn't realize that everybody was staring at me until Leeva said happily, "Well! Looks like we have our first claiming! Between the ages of twelve and eighteen, gods and goddess will claim their children by sending their symbol to appear over their children's heads. But, Aphrodite's way of claiming is quite unique. Instead of sending her symbols, which are the swan and the dove, to appear over her children's foreheads, she sends them Aphrodite's Blessing. She is the goddess of love and beauty, and her Blessing turns her children impeccably beautiful for a few days, no matter how much they try to get rid of the makeup on their face or muss their hair up. And it appears Aphrodite has claimed Glimmer!"

Leeva handed me a mirror. I looked at my reflection and the shock almost made me fall to the floor. My blonde hair, which I had straightened for the reaping, had curled itself; and not my usual small, natural corkscrews; they were fat curls that rained down to just above my elbow. Wait a minute, just above my elbow? That wasn't right! MY hair had always been down to my waist! The Blessing had shortened my hair! And then I stopped looking at my hair-and noticed my face. Blush was applied to the apples of my cheeks with the lightest hand, and silver shimmer sparkled at the corners of my eyes every time I moved. Soft green and sparkly silver eye shadow were blended together on my eyelids, which complemented my emerald green eyes. My eyelashes were long and luscious. Then I saw my dress, and my heart stopped. It was easily one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. Held up by two minuscule white spaghetti straps, the diamond-studded bodice danced down my body, randomly clumping large groups of diamonds together, where, at my knees, a skirt of silky white feathers swirled around my feet.

"It's…beautiful," I whispered, touching the mirror.

Looking at the mirror, though I tried my hardest to push the thought from my mind, I knew something was off about my claiming.

_Marvel _

Well after Glimmer was claimed, it turned into a whole shitshow of everyone jealous of her being claimed, and they wanted to be claimed, too. Leeva tried to regain order, but it didn't work as well as she might have hoped.

"Everyone, please, please, just shh! You will all be claimed by the time you're at the camp fire on your first day at camp, alright? Jeesh, shut up!" to one of the Avoxes, she murmured quite loudly, "Every year, you know, they're worse."

"Well when are we getting to this camp?" the girl from Four asked impatiently.

"Well, in a couple weeks, maybe a month?" Leeva said uncomfortably. "It will take up to two weeks to get to the Capitol, and then we'll have to spend a few weeks shooting the Games."

"What the hell? So we have to wait a month before we're claimed?" yelled the boy from Seven. He, like me and the boy and girl from Two, got his mouth taped.

_Clove_

"Well, if you want, we can try to guess who your parent is, how about that?" Leeva chirped. "Some of the gods favor districts. Aphrodite, for example, favors District One, for their prime industry of luxury items for the Capitol," she said, smiling at Glimmer. "Apollo also favors District One, because he's sometimes known as being 'flashy'. Ares, the god of war, favors District Two, for their production of weapons. No wonder why District Two's tributes are always so…bloodthirsty." She smiled weakly at Cato and Clove. "Poseidon, the god of the sea, favors District Four, for obvious reasons. Hephaestus, the god of the forge, favors districts Twelve and Two, for their mining abilities. He also liked District Thirteen, until, you know…Anyway! Athena's children are known for coming from District Three. Hermes doesn't have a personal preference; as the god of traveling, he stops in whatever district he feels like! Now this doesn't mean that the gods only stick with one district. A lot of their children are from different districts. Who am I forgetting? Oh, yes, Demeter-"

Leeva never got to finish before a bundle of harvested wheat appeared above Rue's head.

"-favors District Eleven," Leeva finished, smiling at Rue, who suddenly went palefrom all of the eyes on her. Rue slowly pointed to the symbol over her head, then to herself, and stammered, "D-Demeter?"

_Cato_

God, I hate that kid. If we WERE doing the Games, she would be the first one that I would kill. It just annoys the HELL out of me how she acts so scared and weak all the time. And now, with the claiming and everything? Everyone will just LOVE her. SHIT! I FUCKING HATE HER!

**Okay, everybody, I hoped you liked it! Sorry I cut it off so quickly, I just ran out of ideas. Can we try for a bunch of reviews? **


	4. Performance

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated! I just haven't had any inspiration AT ALL! Some of the other tributes' perspectives will be working their way into the chapters as well, and I won't do each tribute's perspective every time. And sometimes the perspectives will not be in order of District, like they were previously. Review please? **

_Glimmer_

I was still in awe of my claiming, not really paying attention to anything anyone said until Leeva exclaimed that we had another claiming. I looked up distractedly at the little cutie from District Eleven, who was tipping her head up to stare at the bundle of wheat that had appeared above her head. Psh. Lame. Nothing could top _my _claiming. Still, though, I felt uneasy about something, but I pushed it to the back of my mind again.

_Marvel_

"Is there a car dealership we can go to once we get to the Capitol?" I suddenly asked. All eyes turned to me, and I immediately clamped my mouth shut, wondering where the hell _that _question came from.

"Sorry," I said quickly. "I don't know why I said that."

"No, no, it's totally fine," Leeva said, smiling at me. "I think I might have a feeling of why you said that. Here. Put these on, and tell me what you think."

She handed me a pair of black and white shades, and beckoned for me to try them on. I slipped them on, and even though they were just a normal pair of sunglasses, I felt an overwhelming feeling of coolness inside me and I blurted, "_SWEET!" _

Leeva smile and nodded. "I thought so," she said, pointing above my head.

My eyes went up, along with the rest of the tributes', to the top of my head, where floating above my head, was a sun, one of Apollo's symbols.

The coolness feeling quickly faded away as a frown made its way onto my face, and I muttered, "Fabulous."

_Clove_

Ugh, three tributes claimed in ten minutes? Seriously, gods, give us some time to think!

I was pretty sure I'm the Victor for this year, seeing as I already have two parents, well, I _used _to have two, and there's no way that I'm not related to them, because I'm like a little clone of both of them. So they need to get on with all of this claiming crap, get to the filming, erase my brain, and then send me back home. Seriously. I won't be able to stand these people for another ten minutes, much less a month. Let's get this show on the road.

Thankfully they tied my hands behind my back, and not in the front, so I was easily able to slip my small knife they hadn't taken yet out of my back pocket and quietly began sawing through the ropes that bound my hands. Once they were free I discreetly peeled the piece of tape off my mouth, stood up and said,

"Excuh-yoose me, Leeva, this is all very interesting and such, but why don't you tell this conductor or whoever to hurry this train along to the Capitol and start filming, and then you can tell the rest of the lectures to the demigods while I'm on the train back to District Two and my brand new house in the Victor's Village. Kay?"

"Who says you're the Victor?" the boy from Twelve said, standing up.

"I have two parents. It's not hard to figure out, miner."

District Twelve clenched his fists. "I am not a _miner," _he spat.

"Scuse me?" said the girl from Twelve. "My dad was a miner!"

"You're such an idiot," I said to her. "Your dad's a _god. _Unless you live with him, which I'm assuming not, since you said he _was _a miner."

I looked up at Leeva. "When we start filming, can I kill _her?" _

"Alright, settle down!" Leeva said, chuckling.

The three of us looked at her in annoyance. She sighed. "Clove, Katniss, Peeta-"

"Pita?" I laughed. "Who are your parents, Wheat and Whole Grain?"

"Peeta, with two _e's," _he growled. "And who are yours, Clove, Cinnamon and Paprika?"

"You fucking-" I started, drawing my knife.

"Alright, _enough _already!" Leeva yelled. She turned to two Avoxes standing in the corner. "Elle, please quiet Katniss and Peeta for me." A petite blonde stepped forward with a roll of packing tape. "And Minette," she said, looking at the muscular brunette, "take Clove's knife away and tie her back up." Minette started walking towards me, a slightly cocky grin on his face. I don't know why he was acting superior to me. He's the one with no tongue.

_Melody (District 4)_

The boy from District One-Marvel, I'd heard him called-didn't seem very happy about his claiming, though I wasn't exactly sure why. He should be lucky that his parent actually cared enough to claim him before we got to camp.

After what Leeva said about Poseidon favoring District Four, I was pretty sure he was my father, but I still wanted that reassurance, that feeling of security and love that seemed to radiate from the tributes that had been claimed already…except Marvel, of course.

Already I was very confused, but then that Clove girl started ranting and now I'm _terribly _confused. I remembered her-I saw her on some District Two killing contest thing that aired a couple of years ago. I really don't know why they aired it, exactly, because the districts weren't supposed to have close contact with each other in case of the start of a rebellion. And the kids didn't actually kill people, but animals. I don't know why they acted like that was any better; killing animals was still just as horrible. I sighed to myself then. I don't know why I was keeping up this sympathy charade; feeling bad for animals was something I did just to humor my tree-hugging friends. I guess I could give up that habit now, it's not like I'd ever see them again.

I sighed again. As much as I was excited for camp, I was still very nervous about leaving my mother by herself. I was an only child, my mother being a quiet, gentle woman who was too kind to have anything bad happen to her. She'd been alone with me all her life, telling me the story that my father had left just as she found out she was pregnant, came back to see me born, and then left again. I wasn't angry at him or held a grudge like a lot of kids would, because I figured he would only leave my mother and me if there was something more important than us he had to take care of. Thinking that he had something more important to him than me was a little saddening, but it mostly made me proud that my father wasn't afraid to take care of the people and things he loved.

"Melody?" Leeva interrupted my thinking. "Are you still with us?"

I must have been staring into space again. For some reason whenever someone was talking to me about something I actually cared about, I got sidetracked with a lesser topic drawn from their conversation, then toned them out altogether to think all about it.

"Uh, ya, I think so," I said.

"Fabulous," Leeva said. "Now, where were we?" she asked, tapping one unnaturally long pink fingernail against her chin. "Ah, yes, filming. Clove, I don't know about you being the Victor; you've got some Ares-like features. My guess is that he's your father."

"Mmmmm!" Clove protested.

I rolled my eyes. I really could not stand that girl. I _do _hope she's the Victor, just so I don't have to see her at camp.

"Wait," I said. "So you don't know who the Victor is yet? What happens if _all _of us have a godly parent? Then what?"

"That never happens," Leeva assured us. "On every slip of paper, there is a 'D' for demigod, and 'V' for Victor. When the escort grabs onto a slip of paper, they look to see if there's a D or V. If it's a V, and a different escort has already picked one, then this escort would just pick another slip of paper with a D on it. It's quite simple, really."

"So who's the Victor?" I asked impatiently.

"Well I couldn't tell you that, even if I _did _know! That would just take all of the fun out of everything!"

"How do you decide the order for which people die?" the boy from Ten asked.

"Our Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, will evaluate your scores in training and decide based on that. We'll have you train and get your scores so they can be aired, and then we'll go to camp for about a week so we know who's going to be the Victor, which will be the one of you who doesn't get claimed at the campfire. So Glimmer and Marvel, we know for sure you'll be "dying," because you've already been claimed, but since you're both Careers, you probably won't until near the end."

Leeva was interrupted by a man-I'm assuming the conductor- who said, "Excuse me, Leeva, but we have arrived."

Well, time to go meet the Capitol.

_Cosette (Foxface)_

I was in total awe when we stepped out of the train and into a hovercraft that flew us across the whole Capitol, exposing the beautiful land. It was nothing like District Five, I'll tell you that. Even from the sky, I could see billboards advertising products such as 'Aphrodite's Love Potion' and 'Fertilizer approved by Demeter.'

I sighed. It seemed as though a lot of the tributes could already guess who their parent was, based on their district. I, however, had absolutely no idea who my father could be; I desperately wanted to know.

I assumed my mother would be coming to live with Gavroche and me, considering that there were no other children in my immediate family, except for all of my cousins on my mother's side, though I was sure they weren't demigods; they lived with both of their parents and looked exactly like both of them.

The nose of the hovercraft started to tilt down, aiming for the roof of a tall grey building.

"Okay, everybody!" Leeva said, clapping her hands. "Make sure you grab all your stuff before we head out!"

Right. Like we had any stuff with us.

My district partner, Javert, caught up with me as we walked onto the roof of the building towards the door.

"So what do you think, Cosette?" he asked me. "Know who your parent is?"

"Not a clue," I answered him. "What about you?"

"Nope. I was thinking, though, maybe that Apollo guy Marvel got would be pretty cool, you know, he's all medical and likes cars and stuff? I hope I get him."

Just as he said that, a small staff with two snakes wrapped around it appeared over his head.

"Ah, Javert wields the Caduceus!" Leeva cried happily. "That means your father is Hermes, god of thieves, messenger of the gods. Hello, brother!"

Leeva walked over and gave Javert a hug. He hugged halfheartedly back.

Leeva straightened. "Okay, everyone, if you have been claimed, there is a special floor for your specific parent. You will be showed to your room by one of the Avoxes. If you have not been claimed, you will live on the floor designated for you district, where you will also be guided to by an Avox."

"Well, see you later," Javert said, walking towards the claimed group.

"Congratulations on your claiming!" I called after him, receiving a grin and a thumbs up in return.

_Jeremy (District 10)_

I wasso glad there were not any Hunger Games. With my limp, I'd be mowed down in an instant. I hadn't always had a limp. Seeing as my father wasn't going to make another appearance, my mother remarried a few years after I was born. Her husband was alright, always trying to make me feel like I was one of his own. With her new husband, my mother had five children, two of them twins, and one day when I was about six, her husband took me to work with him to show me the ropes for when I was old enough to start working with the cattle. He first took me to the corral of a lone bull who we were about to feed. As we entered the bull's corral, it charged my stepfather and trampled him, leaving him dead. I jumped out of the way just in time, leaving only my left leg to be crushed by the bull's powerful hooves. The doctors said that there was only so much they could do for my leg, that it would always be lame after the accident.

After losing two husbands in a row, my mother was too depressed to get remarried again or go back to work, so for the last seven years I've been working in the stables like my stepfather and bringing home the only income of the family for all the food and necessities we needed.

When I was first reaped, I didn't automatically think of my limp giving me a disadvantage; I thought about who would provide the money needed to feed the family. The oldest of the five children, my half-brother Henry, was ten years old, definitely old enough to work in the stables, but I hadn't taken him yet; he was still at home helping my mother with the younger children. Even the next child, eight year old Bessie, was old enough to find work at the stables, perhaps helping with the milking. I trust that one of the men that worked with me would take them and show them around.

"Jeremy?" a quiet voice behind me said.

I turned around to find Paige, my district partner, standing behind me. Paige and I weren't close friends, but not total strangers, either. She was in a few of my classes at school, and occasionally we had conversations about homework or teachers or something, but other than that, nothing. Her family wasn't poor, but not entirely well off either. I knew her father and older brother from the stables, and sometimes her mother and sister would come to visit my mother.

"Oh, hi, Paige," I said, not sure of how I should sound.

"So, what do you think of all this?" she asked shyly.

"I'm still trying to take it all in," I replied truthfully.

Paige answered with a nod. I noticed she was nervously biting her nails to stubs.

"What are you worried about?" I asked carefully.

"Everything," she said quietly, not looking at me.

"Why?" I asked. "I don't understand. The Games are fake and we're going to live. What's wrong with that?"

"I just-" she shook her head, causing her chin length dirty blonde hair to wave back and forth against her jawline. "I think I'll be the Victor, because I already have two parents, and my brother or sister never were reaped, and I'm just not ready to have all of those terrible moments in my head." She shuddered.

"I don't think anyone is," I said, shaking my head. "So you really don't think you'll be the Victor? A lot of people here live with their parents. Could you be adopted?"

The thought seemed to have not struck Paige before then. "I…" she trailed off with a horrified expression on her face. "I guess I never thought of that. I don't know, I just can't picture my parents keeping a secret like that from me. If that's true, I feel like that since I don't kow who my real parents are, maybe…I don't belong anywhere."

"Maybe that's why they never told you," I pointed out.

Paige shrugged her shoulders glumly. "Maybe," she said softly.

"Well, hey, don't let it get you down!" I said. "You could very well be the Victor; no one really knows that!"

"Jeremy, Paige, are you coming?" Leeva interrupted us. "There'll be time for chit-chat later! Right now we have a tight schedule to keep!"

_Rue_

"Th-thank you…" I murmured as the Avox who had shown me to my room shut the door quietly. I sat on the large bed and looked around at the giant room I had been given. Between the spring green walls, the sunset orange comforter, and the random accents of flowers around the room really gave it a feel for Demeter. I sighed and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling.

I didn't know how I was going to be able to do it.

Without my father, siblings, or friends at work, I was sure to go mad. Of course I would have siblings at camp, but I the rest of us didn't know them yet, and it's not like they'll give me the same comforting feeling as the six little ones at home. How was I going to go a day without hearing Ani's cheerful banter or my father's soft chuckle when we ran to hug him when he got home late from the fields? I sighed again. I hoped desperately that my mother would send something, some sign to show that she was watching me; that she cared.

"Rue, honey," came with a knock at my door. "It's time for dinner; meet us in the dining hall." I sat up and looked at the clock, not believing that an hour had passed already. I slowly got off the bed and walked out of my room.

_Thresh_

Stomping to the dining hall, I hoped that I was late enough for no one to notice me, but as I walked in al eyes were on me; apparently they had been waiting.

"Thresh, so kind of you to join us," Leeva said calmly. She had an unreadable expression on her face. "Dinner can now be served." She gestured towards two Avoxes, who brought carts full of plates brimming with steaming food and set one down before each of us.

On the plate was a mini rotisserie chicken, cooked and glazed with a reddish-brown sauce, steamed broccoli with puffs of steam still rolling off of it, and a heaping mound of fluffy mashed potatoes. Looking around, I saw most of the other tributes staring at their plates with the same surprised expressions as me, except the Career tributes, who seemed to find nothing our of the ordinary and began eating.

Leeva wiped her mouth with her napkin and started talking for the tenth time today. "While you're eating let me explain what will be happening in the next few days. Tomorrow you'll be performing for the Gamemakers a useful talent for the Hunger Games, and then we'll watch for your scores that evening. The next day we'll take you to camp where you'll be claimed at the campfire, and then the next day we'll take you back here and start filming!"

I rolled my eyes. Sounds like too much work. "How long do we have to film?" I asked.

Leeva shrugged. "It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. It depends on how long the Gamemakers want the Games to go on."

"Can you make a request for them to go shorter?"

Leeva shot me a sharp look. "Gamemakers are respected, Thresh. They're choices for the Games will be accepted and executed well. Got it?"

"Whatever," I said, turning back to my food.

_Marvel_

The next morning as I was enjoying my wonderfully plush mattress in my ultra-cool room, a knock woke me up.

"Marvel!" Leeva sang perkily, though it could only be at least four in the morning, "It's time to get up and perform for the Gamemakers!" I groaned and flipped over onto my stomach, plugging my ears with my pillow.

After about two minutes of silence from both sides of the door, Leeva's voice turned steely. "I'm serious, Marvel. The Gamemakers are waiting, and they don't like to wait long. _Get up." _

"Al_right!" _I snapped, sitting up in bed and dressing plainly in sweats. "I'm _coming." _

Performing for the Gamemakers was a complete waste of my time. I'd gone in, returned their early-morning greeting, and threw spears at dummies for five minutes before they'd thanked and dismissed me. The one highlight, though, was getting to see the gorgeous blonde from my district waiting to go in after me. I had winked at her and offered some flirty advice to her before realizing that our parents were twins, making us cousins. I had to remember to ask what that meant for our future relationship.

_Glimmer_

The Gamemakers' sleepy expressions seemed to perk up a little bit when I walked into the training room. I kept my head high and shook my golden locks over my shoulders, listening to the internal voice that told me to flaunt my beauty and be proud of it.

I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to show the Gamemakers when I approached the pile of weapons, so I grabbed the first thing I saw-a bow and a quiver of arrows; I had never used one, but I saw tributes use them in past tapings of the Games, and it didn't look too terribly difficult. But when I started to pull the arrow back I hesitated, realizing how much I had underrated the weapon. Pulling back that string took _muscle, _way more than I had expected. Once I sent the arrow flying, I could even tell that I would miss. And miss I did. The arrow fell a few feet to the right of the target, missing it completely. I sneaked a peek at the Gamemakers, and saw that a few of them were whispering to each other and moving around in their seats.

Finally, listening to my Aphrodite instincts, I just set the bow down gently and smiled at the Gamemakers, letting my beauty take over. After a few minutes, the Head Gamemaker, by the looks of his long robe, shook his head and said, "Thank you _very _much Glimmer. You may leave now." Satisfied, I bounced out of the room, hearing more whispers behind me.

_Cato_

Striding confidently into the training room, I knew this was going to be a snap. As long as they had a good sword I was going to easily score a twelve.

"I'm Cato," I said bluntly, looking at the Gamemakers with an intimidating look on my face. "Can I have an assistant?"

One of the Gamemakers nodded. "Of course, Cato, by all means," he said, gesturing to a woman sitting off to the side, clad in training clothes with her brown hair held up in a ponytail.

"Hello, Cato," she said, shaking my hand. "I'm Atala, I help the Gamemakers give you your score."

"Great," I said. "You good with a sword?"

Atala snorted. "Of course I am. Just hand me anything and tell me what to do."

I tossed her a sword and she caught the butt of it without blinking an eye.

"Okay," I said. "Just a regular old disarming match, and we'll be done for today."

Atala sneered. "Let's do it."

I grabbed a sword off the rack, flipped it up, caught it, and slashed the air in front of me.

"Nice," Atala said, nodding. "But it'll take more to beat me!" She lunged, and I met her sword with mine so hard it made sparks fly. We clashed weapons for about thirty seconds, until I twisted the handle of my sword against hers and she lost her grip on it and let it fall cleanly into my hands. I flipped that one up and caught it with a sneer on my face.

"I'm impressed," Atala said, half-smiling.

"And I'm out." I threw the swords on the ground and walked out.

_Clove_

"Okay, let's get this over with," I said to myself before walking in to perform for the Gamemakers. I had to throw those knives perfectly. I had to hit the target every single time, no exceptions. I had to get a good score so when I got back home to District Two no one would think I was a loser who got nervous when performing. I had to do well.

Then I mentally shook myself. Why was I so nervous? I was a Career. I know knives better than anything. This would be easy.

As soon as Cato walked out I almost ran into the room, eager to show my skills. I walked right over to the knife throwing station without talking and selected a variety of knives and stuffed them in my jacket so they were easy to pull out.

I went to the line of targets and whipped a knife at the first one. I didn't look where it hit; I just went down the line, reaching into my jacket for a new knife each time one left my hand. As I threw my last one, I looked at the row of targets. Each one had a knife in its bulls-eye.

"Thank you," I said simply, and left.

_Cosette (Foxface)_

I stepped cautiously into the training room, unsure of what I was going to show the Gamemakers. I didn't have any special physical strengths, but earlier I saw stations with things that took more mental strength than physical, and I was trying to think of something I could do with edible plants and camouflage. As I paused in front of the Gamemakers, I noticed an empty-looking cloth bag next to a robed woman. That gave me an idea.

"Excuse me," I said quietly. "Would you mind if I borrowed that?" The woman looked up, surprised, and slowly held out the bag for me to take.

"Thank you," I said, hoping my politeness would help my score.

I walked over to the camouflage station and began mixing green and brown paint together, which came out as a sort of a muddy grass green. I spread the mixture first onto my arms and face, and smoothed the rest over the bag, making its white color less conspicuous. Then I looked over the edible plants station and picked out a few handfuls of greens that I were positive were edible. I got a canteen from the supplies pile and filled it with water from the small pond in the corner of the room reserved for catching fish. I got a knife and two thick pieces of rope and finished by cutting four tiny holes in the back of the bag and threading the pieces of rope through them, making a backpack. I put the greens, canteen, and knife in the bag and set it where the Gamemakers could see.

"There," I said softly. "You have a survival pack."

The Gamemakers were silent for a moment, some looking at me, some at the bag, and some at each other. Finally the bag's owner stood up and said, "Thank you very much, Cosette. You may go now."

"Thank you," I said, leaving.

_Rue_

"The scores are in!" Leeva sang as she stepped into the media room. At dinner she had told us to meet there, and wait for her until our training scores aired on TV. After dinner we had all shuffled in here, and mindlessly waited for her, some lounging on the couch flipping through channels while others, like me, sat cross-legged on the floor and barely talked.

We all turned towards the TV set while Leeva sat on the arm of the sofa and took the remote from Cato, who, eager to see the scores, quickly handed it over.

The Capitol seal flashed across the screen, and each of our pictures. The District One tributes, Marvel and Glimmer, were first. They were quite dazzling to everyone here; the Capitol attendants seemed to pay extra attention to them that to the other tributes. Marvel I didn't think about very much, but I longed to talk to Glimmer. She was so confident; the way she way I so wanted to be. I was quiet as I watched their scores come on-Marvel got an eight, Glimmer a nine.

"Oh, Glimmer!" Leeva exclaimed happily. "What did you do?"

Glimmer shrugged. "I just smiled at them." She said, her green eyes twinkling.

Next came District Two, Cato and Clove. I was a bit scared of them. Cato was leaned forward, his eyes glued to the screen, his hands balled into fists bouncing restlessly on his lap. "Come on, come on, come on," he murmured.

As Clove's number nine flashed across the screen, she sighed I relief, but when Cato's ten came on, a look of pure shock came across his face.

"A _ten?" _he said. "I got a _ten?"_

"Tens are wonderful, Cato!" Leeva encouraged. "They're very hard to get."

"I deserved a twelve," Cato murmured. "I disarmed that trainer so fast they should have crowned me Victor right then."

"You used an assistant?" Leeva questioned.

"Yeah," Cato said distractedly. "So?"

"That's probably why you didn't get a twelve. The Gamemakers want to see what you can do on your own, not what you can do when you have help."

"Well how else could I have shown them what I can do with a sword?" growled Cato before he angrily left the room.

When District Five's numbers came on, a look of true disbelief came across the girl's face when the screen showed an eight.

"Fabulous, Cosette!" Leeva crowed. "What did you show them?"

"I…I made a survival pack."

Leeva and some of the Career tributes looked at her questioningly, but they seemed to believe her, because they turned back towards the TV where the rest of the districts' numbers were coming up. When my number came up, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had pulled a seven. I had shooting a slingshot while running through a maze of dummies would come off as unprepared and messy. I hoped my mother was proud of me.


End file.
